happy-face2Market followers, politicians, and economists are accustomed to measure the output of a country by GNP, the gross national product, or GDP the gross domestic product.  What goes into those initials is, of course, a value judgment.  Environmentalists used say, cut down a grove of ancient sequoias and the cost of cutting, and the dead sequoia become part of GDP, leave it standing for hikers and visitors to enjoy, and it has no value.  Both President Sarkozy of France, and Nobel prize winner economist Joe Stiglitz have suggested “happiness” ought to be part of a national measurement, as it was to our founding fathers (”life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”)

Actually, the first country to use the concept, to my knowledge, is the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, tucked up between China and India.  In 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck coined the term “gross national happiness” and ordered his administration to construct such an index.  I have not attempted to run down the 72 variables in the Bhutanese GNH (gross national happiness), but Bhutan has universal healthcare coverage, high literacy rates, the purest air in the world and, according to a Belgian correspondent of the Financial Times, no Blackberry coverage at all.